Published scoops - Government Aggression

Jones is one of the owners of Buckingham Slate, a Virginia business a little over an hour's drive west of Richmond. The company is distinguished by the quality of the highly valued Arvonia slate it produces. And by the fact that its roots trace back almost to the Civil War. And by the fact that federal regulators smacked it with a $4,000 fine.
Over a trash can.

Despite strong outcry against it from the adult film industry, a measure requiring porn performers to wear condoms on set was passed by LA County voters, with 56% of the vote. The "Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act'," in addition to mandating condoms, will require porn producers to apply for a permit from the LA County Dept of Public Health to shoot sex scenes. The fee will finance periodic inspections of porn filming, and violations will be subject to civil fines and criminal misdemeanor charges. 1.2 million people thought this was a good idea.

The popular Buckyballs and Buckycubes magnetic desk toys will be discontinued, its manufacturer said, blaming what it called "baseless and relentless legal badgering" from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. "It's time to bid a fond farewell to the world's most popular adult desk toys," Maxfield and Oberton, the maker of Buckyballs, said on its website this week. "That's right: We're sad to say that Balls and Cubes have a one-way ticket to the Land-of-Awesome-Stuff-You-Should-Have-Bought-When-You-Had-the-Chance."

When presidential election season rolls around, it seems like everyone you know is suddenly a political-science major with a minor in being an asshole. As Facebook becomes a war zone, there are a number of arguments that will come up again and again. We're not going to try to sway you on any one issue, but you should know that there are some factual points that almost everyone gets wrong.
For instance, you'll keep running into people who think ...

...not that it really matters which Republicrat Statist is ultimately elected. But wouldn't it be sweet justice indeed to see the Republicans spanked for the fraud and physical violence perpetrated against the Ron Paul and his supporters?

Mr. Johnson said he had no problem being labeled a potential spoiler in an election that he views as “a debate between Coke and Pepsi.”

“As we all learned in Florida, when something’s close enough, even small numbers can make a difference,” said Charlie Cook, the publisher of The Cook Political Report, which monitors electoral trends.

Because recently disclosed Romney campaign documents are raising new questions about the candidate’s position, and the recent appointment of a Spokane, Washington LDS bishop who in his professional life as a psychologist pioneered so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” after 9/11 has raised new questions about whether Mormonism condones torture.

Check out a rep from both the Democratic and Republican Party as they're confronted by Luke Rudowski of "We Are Change" on the legitmacy of Obama's Kill List. At least Obama's rep handles himself pretty well - can't say the same for the GOP punk.

"more than half of the 62 (VOTER ID) bills were sponsored by members or conference attendees of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...Pennsylvania’s law, which is counted among that group, was sponsored by Republican State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, an ALEC member...“We knew the Indiana law was upheld by the Supreme Court,” he (METCALFE) said. “I’m not sure how much ALEC influenced Indiana law.” ALEC has nearly 2,000 state legislator members who pay $100 in dues every two years.

Man gets life in prison after repenting for his crime. A Kansas man turned himself in to authorities saying he knowingly committed oral sex on a 4 month old baby. The predator laws in Kansas are some of the strictest in the nation and mandate a life sentence. While the crime is deplorable, should the sentence be lessened because the man admitted his crime to a priest and turned himself in willingly to police?

A year and a half ago, we wrote about some Italian seismologists who were being tried for manslaughter after a risk assessment they wrote up, in which they concluded that a series of small earthquakes along a faultline wasn't that serious, and the risk of a big earthquake was not that high. About a week later, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck, destroying a bunch of buildings and killing over 300 people.

Sture Bergwall (a.k.a. Thomas Quick) confessed to several murders while drugged out of his mind by psychiatrists at a psychatric clinic. He was convicted of 8 murders without any technical evidence whatsoever. He was often led by interrogators to give "correct" answers about details in the murders so that he eventually got "close enough" for conviction. A sad story about the Swedish criminal justice system...

The class had been playing with a school iPad during a lesson when the topless pictures popped up on the screen. The teacher's iPhone is believed to have accidentally synched with the tablet device — and transferred all her naughty private snaps. Four pupils playing a game on the iPad clicked on the folder and got a surprise peek. Now THEY have been suspended and threatened with expulsion from Highland Middle School in Anderson, Indiana, US.

The president of the Manchester Patrolman's Association has been placed on administrative leave after being charged with felony reckless conduct and driving under the influence following a two-vehicle crash Tuesday night.

During Thursday night's vice presidential debate, Vice President Joe Biden attacked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for criticizing the president's stimulus act despite having sent two separate requests for stimulus funds for his district. Biden was wrong. Ryan sent at least four requests. A Freedom of Information Act request for correspondence between Ryan's office and the Environmental Protection Agency, filed by The Huffington Post, unearthed two additional instances in which the Wisconsin Republican petitioned for American Recovery Act funds.

"Never believe anything until it is officially denied," is a useful saying, advising skepticism towards whatever the government claims to be doing. This is the right mental attitude for any observer of the political scene. But for sniffing out official or journalistic mendacity, evasion and ignorance, a good guide is the use of tired and misleading words or phrases.

Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein and vice-presidential candidate Cheri Honkala were arrested Tuesday as they attempted to enter the grounds of the presidential debate site at Hofstra University. Like other third-party candidates, Stein was blocked from participating in the debate by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is controlled by the Republican and Democratic parties. Stein and Honkala were held for eight hours, handcuffed to chairs.

What do robotic squirrels, menus for Martian meals and a musical about climate change have in common? They've all been made possible with taxpayer assistance, according to the latest survey of government waste put out by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. Known simply as the Waste Book, the report is a watchlist of eye-opening expenditures, which Coburn blames on a "let them eat caviar" attitude in Washington -- at a time when "23 million of our fellow Americans do not have good jobs," Coburn notes.

As President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney prepare for their second debate tonight at Hofstra University on Long Island, we speak with George Farah, author of "No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates." The debate will feature questions from the audience that have been pre-selected by moderator Candy Crowley of CNN — a detail revealed when Time magazine published the contract secretly negotiated by the Obama and Romney campaigns and the Commission on Presidential Debates.